12/07/2008

U.S. municipalities and other organizations most at risk of sustaining damage from climate change are not adapting enough to counteract the potential dangers of higher global temperatures. "Despite a half century of climate change that has already significantly affected temperature and precipitation patterns and has already had widespread ecological and hydrological impacts, and despite a near certainty that the United States will experience at least as much climate change in the coming decades just as a result of current atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, little adaptation has occurred." New York City's flood maps are based on historical data and not on climate change modeling data. Increases in sea levels and storm surges associated with stronger storms could inundate JFK Airport and lower Manhattan, including the subway entrances and tunnels into Manhattan. In Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas, where water supply is critical, climate change has not been factored into state agencies’ current water management plans. Municipal public health agencies in Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia, among others, have not factored climate change into plans for confronting public health risks, despite the belief that climate change will increase the incidence and severity of vector-borne diseases and respiratory illnesses. (the full report)

Even though parts of the USA have been UNUSUALLY COLD for the past couple of weeks, Nordic ski events in the Czech Republic had to be canceled this week due to the UNUSUAL WARMTH and lack of snow.